raiders075_cs.jpg Event on 8/14/03 in San Francisco. The San Francisco Niners linebackerJamie (55) exults after a first quarter sack of Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon as the Niners beat the Raiders 14-10 in a pre-season game at Candlestick Park. CHRIS STEWART / The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/ -MAGS OUT Jamie was delighted to have sacked Rich Gannon the other day; this is the end of the sentence. Photo caption <137,,>49ers20_ph<252>1060732800<252>The Chronicle<252>raiders075_cs.jpg__Event on 8-14-03 in San Francisco.__The San Francisco Niners linebackerJamie (55) exults after a first quarter sack of Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon as the Niners beat the Raiders 14-10 in a pre-season game at Candlestick Park. ___CHRIS STEWART - The Chronicle__MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE- -MAGS OUT<137><252> also ran 08/20/03 cat with 49ERS20 jump Sports#Sports#Chronicle#11/28/2004#ALL#2star##0421342796

The barrel of a gun pushed into Jamie Winborn's mouth. The gunman took a last look at Winborn and knew of the high school freshman's athletic prowess.

"Play ball," the gang member said, and with that two-word instruction, Winborn was set free.

Years after that harrowing moment, Winborn, a linebacker, will start today against the Dolphins instead of following a different destiny.

When Winborn was growing up in Wetumpa, Ala., those in the streets gave him a wide berth and called him "Little Pill." Winborn was the son of Elbert Blake Jr., an imposing man and notorious drug dealer who ruled the streets.

Blake was known as "Big Pill" until the day he disappeared. Rosa Winborn, Jamie's mother, told Jamie that a big drug deal between Blake and his nephews went sour and "Big Pill" fled.

"We think he might be in prison under another name," said Jamie, who has never met Blake.

But the Winborn family's entanglement with drugs and addiction was only beginning.

Rosa, who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, fell into a bad marriage when Jamie was about 9 years old. When her ex-husband deprived her of her stabilizing medication, she descended into a 14-year drug addiction that left her imprisoned and nearly dead.

She leapt out of a car going 60 miles an hour, and got into a car accident in which she was thrown 25 feet. "I walked around in Montgomery (Ala. ) in a real bad neighborhood for two-three days at a time," Rosa said by telephone.

While his mother was away, Jamie lived with his aunts and grandmother, who decided that he needed a male influence. That's when Jamie moved to Texas to live with Rosa's brother Archie and his wife, Cynthia.

"I think that provided a foundation for Jamie's life," Rosa said.

Nevertheless, as Jamie grew older he began living a dual life as an athlete and street thug, until that day he found himself at gunpoint.

"I thought I was dead," Winborn said. "You don't just say, 'I'm not going to do this (gang activity) anymore.' You have to get out."

Winborn returned to Wetumpa and dedicated his life to school and sports. He won a football scholarship to Vanderbilt and was selected in the second round of the 2001 draft. With good friend Julian Peterson out for the year with a torn Achilles tendon, Winborn replaced Peterson's ubiquitous presence.

More importantly, he has reunited with his mother, who has been drug-free for 18 months and is living in a home Jamie has set up for her. She works as a baby-sitter and house cleaner.

Even through her worst times, she kept in contact with her son.

"She would always write and tell me to stay in school and that she was proud of me," Jamie said. "She was still being a mom."

Nevertheless, her addiction has left emotional scars. Classmates taunted Jamie, teasing him because his mother was in jail.

"It's a disease," Winborn said of Rosa's addiction. "It's a terrible disease. That's what people should understand before they start commenting on it."

Mother and son talk nearly every day, and Jamie, who just earned a $1.2 million incentive for playing in 10 games this year, sends her money.

"Most of the time, she sends it back," he said.

"I love my child," Rosa said. "It's not about money."

Rosa planned to fly out to be with Jamie on Thanksgiving, but a minor surgery kept her in Alabama. Jamie will never forget last year's Thanksgiving feast, when Rosa flew to California and cooked for her son.

"That was a special day for me," Winborn said. "That was big time. It was great; we just sat back and talked, just me and my mom. It was one of the best days of my life."

Storyline: This is the best opportunity for the 49ers to win a second game. Miami is just as injured and in the tank. The challenge for the 49ers will be to improve over the last six games and get out of a psychological hole.

When the 49ers have the ball: With two undersized Miami defensive tackles substituting for injured starters, the 49ers should crank up a power running game. This is Kevan Barlow's best chance to get his second 100-yard rushing game of the season, with Dolphins middle linebacker Zach Thomas out. For all its problems this season, Miami still has two of the best cornerbacks in the league in Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison. The Dolphins usually don't blitz much, but they might in this game. Look for Surtain to come off the corner.

When the Dolphins have ball: Quarterback A.J. Feeley likes a spread offense, as does Tim Rattay. With the 49ers depleted in the secondary, the Dolphins could often go with three- and four-receiver sets and make quick passes. Feeley is hurt and will need a pain-killing injection in his buttocks to play. For the 49ers' defense, the key will be applying pressure in the middle of the Dolphins' offensive line, where they are ailing.